About Us

Matthew and Betty Van Steenwyk established the Archer Foundation in 2012 to empower research teams to advance scientific understanding and technology for the benefit of humanity. Matthew Van Steenwyk is the Founding and Managing Director of Longbow Technology Ventures, a technology investment fund, with deep expertise in the global energy and energy services sector. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. Dr. Betty Van Steenwyk is a licensed clinical psychologist at the VA Sierra Nevada Healthcare System in Reno. She completed her post-doctoral residency with the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Augusta Maine on complex trauma. She is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena (Psy.D., Psychology).

The Van Steenwyk family named the Archer Award after the English long-bowmen who used the most important English military invention of the 1300s – the English longbow – to turn the tide of the battlefield in the Hundred Years War. The English long-bowmen, once dominated by a single, well armored knight, were suddenly able to launch hundreds of arrows and transform the battlefield due to the unique design of the Longbow and the superior properties (strength and elasticity) of the wood from which it is made (Yew tree).

In the same vain as those ancient long-bowmen, the Archer Foundation, through family members and an advisory board of science experts, aims to create a legacy by funding promising research that will lead to breakthroughs or solutions for the benefit of humanity.